On the occasion of "The World Holy Name Week" Gandharvika Giridhari Jiu are dressed in a Harinam Outfit. Inspired by the deities in New Vraja Dham, who were dressed in such an outfit some years ago, the deities look extra special even though They have very less jewelry and are in simple cotton, the only embellishments are the Holy names, not ordinary, but the greatest wealth from Goloka, that has descended to rope us back to our original home.
Before i brought home Gandharvika Giridharijiu, I heard from several mentors and debated whether I should really bring home any more deities. Everyone whom I met and revealed my mind to stressed on the Holy Names and how chanting the Mahamantra should take more precedence over anything else, but i could not understand it with my dull mind. I was stubborn and even though I knew that chanting Mahamantra and chanting it constantly is our only Goal, I still could not understand or imagine my life without deities, which I attribute to some samskaras in early childhood.
As a child I would carry my clay Hanuman doll around, feeding him, making him sleep and playing with Him, stealing him away from the Dasara arrangement and taking care of Him. When devotees said they worshipped the Srimad Bhagavatam, I looked at them in disbelief. How can one serve the Bhagavatam? We cannot offer fruits, flower or beautiful ornaments to the Bhagavatam. My conditioning and immaturity prevented (and still prevents) me from seeing the Bhagavatam as being non-different from the Lord. It is only later that I learnt that while you can place the Bhagavtam on the altar and offer worship, the best way to serve the Bhagavatam is by following the instructions of the personalities in the Bhagavatam. I tried worshipping the holy name by placing the Mahamantra on the altar, but i was missing the point. in order to understand the position of the Holy names, one has to be surrendered, which i was not.
I find it easier performing Arati to a Bhajan describing His pastimes than the Mahamantra, because I simply lack the taste. Sripad Aindra Prabhu changed all this to a large extent, by giving a glimmer of taste, but there is a lot more to be changed.
In Sri Harinam Chintamani, Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur describes Haridas Thakur's thoughts on the holy name and writes. " Lord Krishna and His holy name are identical: They are one and the same Absolute truth, the all inclusive yet supremely independent form of dynamic spirituality, full of emotion,without beginning or end. Always situated in pure goodness, the holy name descends to this world in the shape of letters as the complete incarnation and embodiment of the highest sweetness: rasa."
Of course i understand all this only theoretically and my immediate understanding of the oneness of the Holy Names and the Lord is by this incident which happened several years ago in Mumbai.
There was that Taj Hotel where the terrorists attacked. They were fighting in there for three days, complete carnage. The terrorists had arranged in such a way that they would always be up higher. They would shoot from a lower vantage point down. Radhanath Maharaja told me this. They had all these grenades and they would throw the grenades and the grenades would create so much smoke that if you were down looking up you couldn't see anything.
Picture that you are one of these soldiers or police officers and you are in this cloud of smoke and up above you there is this hail of bullets from the terrorists shooting at you. One of those soldiers was one of our devotees. At one point, they were trying to chase these people through the hotel. They are trapped. The terrorist were throwing all these grenades, they are in a complete cloud of smoke. They cannot see one foot in front of their face. They can't see left, right or anything and this hail of bullets is being fired at them. Just a wall of bullets coming at them.
This devotee police officer, with two other police officers on either side, he is in the middle, he actually was completely helpless. He couldn't see left, right, he couldn't see his colleagues. He remembered that he had on his ring tone on his phone Nrsimhadeva prayers. He began playing the Nrsimhadeva prayers and praying intently to Lord Nrsimhadeva, "Please I am absolutely helpless. I am going to die. Save me, in an absolutely hopeless state."
When the shooting stopped, the smoke cleared, his friend to the right and his friend to the left were completely killed, riddled with bullets, and he was unscathed. In front of him, which he couldn't see at the time, was a giant pillar. And because they were shooting at him the pillar protected him.
He thought, "Just as Lord Nrsimhadev came out of the pillar to save Prahlada He put a pillar here to save me!" So my point is, simple point, is if we have that faith, "Oh, how will I be taken care of?" Krishna will take care of you, don't worry. Let me give my life to the sankirtana movement.
from Srimad Bhagavatam class in Mayapur
Praying to Sri Haridas Thakur and Nam Prabhu in all earnestness to some day understand the purport of this verse and experience it completely. Nama Chintamani Krishna Caitanya Rasa Vigraha, Nitya Mukta Purna Shuddha Abhinnatvam Nama Naminoh.
Chanting the Holynames incessantly is the Prayojana of our lives, the greatest truth. It requires persistence Humilty and courage to pay the price in return for gaining this topmost wealth and I am ready for this endeavor.
Gandharvika Giridhari Jiu in Their Harinam Dress
As a child I would carry my clay Hanuman doll around, feeding him, making him sleep and playing with Him, stealing him away from the Dasara arrangement and taking care of Him. When devotees said they worshipped the Srimad Bhagavatam, I looked at them in disbelief. How can one serve the Bhagavatam? We cannot offer fruits, flower or beautiful ornaments to the Bhagavatam. My conditioning and immaturity prevented (and still prevents) me from seeing the Bhagavatam as being non-different from the Lord. It is only later that I learnt that while you can place the Bhagavtam on the altar and offer worship, the best way to serve the Bhagavatam is by following the instructions of the personalities in the Bhagavatam. I tried worshipping the holy name by placing the Mahamantra on the altar, but i was missing the point. in order to understand the position of the Holy names, one has to be surrendered, which i was not.
I find it easier performing Arati to a Bhajan describing His pastimes than the Mahamantra, because I simply lack the taste. Sripad Aindra Prabhu changed all this to a large extent, by giving a glimmer of taste, but there is a lot more to be changed.
In Sri Harinam Chintamani, Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur describes Haridas Thakur's thoughts on the holy name and writes. " Lord Krishna and His holy name are identical: They are one and the same Absolute truth, the all inclusive yet supremely independent form of dynamic spirituality, full of emotion,without beginning or end. Always situated in pure goodness, the holy name descends to this world in the shape of letters as the complete incarnation and embodiment of the highest sweetness: rasa."
Of course i understand all this only theoretically and my immediate understanding of the oneness of the Holy Names and the Lord is by this incident which happened several years ago in Mumbai.
There was that Taj Hotel where the terrorists attacked. They were fighting in there for three days, complete carnage. The terrorists had arranged in such a way that they would always be up higher. They would shoot from a lower vantage point down. Radhanath Maharaja told me this. They had all these grenades and they would throw the grenades and the grenades would create so much smoke that if you were down looking up you couldn't see anything.
Picture that you are one of these soldiers or police officers and you are in this cloud of smoke and up above you there is this hail of bullets from the terrorists shooting at you. One of those soldiers was one of our devotees. At one point, they were trying to chase these people through the hotel. They are trapped. The terrorist were throwing all these grenades, they are in a complete cloud of smoke. They cannot see one foot in front of their face. They can't see left, right or anything and this hail of bullets is being fired at them. Just a wall of bullets coming at them.
This devotee police officer, with two other police officers on either side, he is in the middle, he actually was completely helpless. He couldn't see left, right, he couldn't see his colleagues. He remembered that he had on his ring tone on his phone Nrsimhadeva prayers. He began playing the Nrsimhadeva prayers and praying intently to Lord Nrsimhadeva, "Please I am absolutely helpless. I am going to die. Save me, in an absolutely hopeless state."
When the shooting stopped, the smoke cleared, his friend to the right and his friend to the left were completely killed, riddled with bullets, and he was unscathed. In front of him, which he couldn't see at the time, was a giant pillar. And because they were shooting at him the pillar protected him.
He thought, "Just as Lord Nrsimhadev came out of the pillar to save Prahlada He put a pillar here to save me!" So my point is, simple point, is if we have that faith, "Oh, how will I be taken care of?" Krishna will take care of you, don't worry. Let me give my life to the sankirtana movement.
from Srimad Bhagavatam class in Mayapur
Praying to Sri Haridas Thakur and Nam Prabhu in all earnestness to some day understand the purport of this verse and experience it completely. Nama Chintamani Krishna Caitanya Rasa Vigraha, Nitya Mukta Purna Shuddha Abhinnatvam Nama Naminoh.
Chanting the Holynames incessantly is the Prayojana of our lives, the greatest truth. It requires persistence Humilty and courage to pay the price in return for gaining this topmost wealth and I am ready for this endeavor.
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